Lloyd Lone U.S. Nominee for FIFA Prize as Ronaldo Tops Men’s Group

FIFA has released the shortlists for both the men’s and women’s Player of the Year Awards, the first since the sport’s governing body separated its award from the Ballon d’Or.

Carli Lloyd once again got shortlisted for the FIFA Player of the year. (ISI Photos/Brad Smith)

The big news from a U.S. point of view is that just one American woman has made the top 10. Not big news is the identity of the American standard bearer, two time defending Women’s Player of the Year Carli Lloyd.

Potential U.S. nominees were hindered by the lack of an official FIFA competition held during the time being considered- November 26, 2016, through August 6, 2017- while their European counterparts benefitted from exposure gained at the highly competitive 2017 Euro, won by the Netherlands.

Of course, finishing last in one four team tournament hosted on home soil and second in the other, did little to advance the Americans cause.

Consisting of 24 names the men’s shortlist was considerably longer than the 10 player women’s list and also includes the 2017 winner Cristiano Ronaldo, as well as his long time nemesis Lionel Messi. The time frame for the judges to consider in the men’s race runs from November 20, 2016, through July 2, 2017.

Ronaldo is favored to add another bauble to his impressive collection, if not Messi is always a likely winner. But what if the judges go in a different direction? Will a defender be considered? Or perhaps one of the Bundesliga goalscoring aces, Robert Lewandowski or Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang?

N’Golo Kante’s contribution to the 2016-17 Premier League title run by Chelsea and Leicester’s Cinderella title the previous season were acknowledged when the defensive midfielder won this year’s PFA Players’ Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year honors.

Lloyd faces an uphill battle in her quest to three-peat, although her successful stint with Manchester City could earn her some votes.

But Lloyd is up against an impressive range of talented European stars who shone in the cauldron of the best women’s Confederation tournament while Lloyd and the U.S. WNT struggled in what is acknowledged as a quiet year for the Yanks with no World Cup or Olympic challenges.

Club versus country is another component at play as the judges consider their votes, with Australia’s Sam Kerr a very strong candidate if her play for Sky Blue FC in the NWSL is given enough weight. Kerr was also superb in the Tournament of Nations, although shining in that friendly tournament doesn’t stand out on the resume quite so much as the career burnishing accomplishments of all but one other candidate on this list who starred at the Euros.

That outlier is 18-year-old Venezuelan Deyna Castellanos, and her inclusion has to be considered a shocker, given that she plays her club soccer for the Santa Clara Blue Heat, a team in the United Women’s Soccer league. The UWS only began play in May 2016, so the Venezuelan must have turned a lot of heads with her Golden Boot winning performance at the 2016 U17 Women’s World Cup.